Building The Wall with Tuni and Badge Dale

[uncageg]

Posted: 5/16/17 at 12:00am

Got a chance to see it this evening. Pretty powerful.

It is in previews and is in good shape. Once they settle in I can only imagine how much more of an impact it will have.

For those who do not know, this show has had multiple productions playing, I thin two, simultaniosly around the country as part of the National New Play Network.

I knew who Ms. Tuni was and have always wanted to see her onstage. Most of her character's (Gloria) dialouge is asking Dale's character, Rick, questions. But he may be a ticking bomb and she has to be careful. Once settled in, she will nail it. You can feel it. 

I immediately wondered how Mr. Badge Dale decompresses after his performance. It it pretty powerful and a slow burner. By the end he has just sucked you right in and leaves you almost breathless. You could hear a pin drop for the whole 80 minites.

It is some heavy stuff with a light sprinkling of humor and some omimouse music. It takes place 2 years from now in a jail questioning room. Rick is in jail for doing some awful things at a jail facility with illegal immigrants.  I think it is safe to say that for the most part, Republicans may not like it. And the show does not "directly" slam Republicans. That's about all I can say without giving things away.

I suspect we will get more shows dealing with the present political climate. Glad the the 2 I have seen so far have been well done. JMO

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 5/17/17 at 4:12pm

 

Thanks for the report, uncageg! It sounds fantastic. I’m trying to decide between this and IN AND OF ITSELF for an upcoming Sunday night.

[deltatee]

Posted: 5/17/17 at 4:54pm

I saw the Curious Theatre's production of it in Denver a couple months ago.  I have somewhat mixed-to-negative impressions about it. One the one hand, the main premise is extremely powerful and raises such a good point.  However, I thought the story was unnecessarily hyper-sensationalized to make this point. I thought this was actually detrimental to the very valid point being made.  Also, I felt like the professor who interviews the prisoner is written all wrong. In the version I saw, she seemed hot-headed and incredible argumentative.  I thought much of the play felt like another AC360 panel, even though it is so much more.  So I think it has promise, but I think it needs a lot more work, and I think the characters need refined.

 

Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content

The show is about on a professor interviewing a prisoner about his actions with respect to Trump's immigration policies.  Throughout the show the professor argues constantly with the prisoner, which I didn't find effective.  But in the final scene the prisoner (after complaining about broken promises by politicians) says something to the effect of "Trump promised to build a wall and he did. The purpose of a wall is to keep people out, but after what we did, who would want to come here?"

I love that point, but it was disingenuous coming from a man whose character doesn't develop until the final scenes.  I thought it would have been more powerful if the professor interviewing the prisoner kept her calm.  Then instead of the prisoner complaining about politicians lying and breaking promises but praising trump for breaking promises (which I found incredible inconsistent), the prisoner should have complained about Trump not actually building a wall.  In response, the calm and collected professor responds "But he did ....blah blah blah."  That would have been much more effective in my opinion.

Also, in the show we learn that there was a holocaust.  The author obviously found his inspiration from Treblinka because the similarities are striking.  I thought this was detrimental to the the point of the story because it doesn't take a holocaust before we sacrifice our democratic liberal principles.  It is already happening, and that is a huge shame. I know the author doesn't intend to suggest this, but it was the impression I got.

 

Updated On: 5/17/17 at 04:54 PM

[uncageg]

Posted: 5/23/17 at 10:53pm

She is more cautious in this production.

 

I don't know how to do the spoiler toggle but I will just say that I disagree with a part of your spoiler deltTee.

Also delta, was trying to pm you about something but you don't accept Tom's. It was about Denver theatre.

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 5/25/17 at 9:54pm

Anyone else see this show? Worth checking out?

[ThaDudeAbides]

Posted: 5/25/17 at 11:59pm

I saw the first preview, so I can't say how well they've settled in. I thought the show was powerful and ultimately terrifying. It's a little talky, but that aspect misdirects you and makes the ending pack more of a wallop, IMO.

[Broadway Joe]

Posted: 6/2/17 at 4:35pm

Closing a little over a month early, I hadn't planned on seeing it but I think it's interesting to see that the interest in this kind of thing might be a tough sell. I wonder if this translates over to Julius Caesar at all at Shakespeare in the park. 

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Robert-Schenkkans-BUILDING-THE-WALL-to-Close-Early-Off-Broadway-20170602

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 6/2/17 at 6:03pm

I wouldn't know about the show if it hadn't been showing up places for shows that aren't selling well. I think they had a publicity issue. Tamara Tunie is recognizable but I don't think she'd move tickets like maybe Mariska Hargitay. And New World Stages seems like a strange fit given what they usually program.

That said, I'm already feeling overwhelmed with Trump nonsense. Sitting through a show about him or the ideology he claims to subscribe to sounds tiresome without word of mouth that there's something compelling about the production or performances. 

[Dollypop]

Posted: 6/3/17 at 9:12am

Badge Dale is the son of legendary Broadway dancer Grover Dale.